Hiller held the fort through seven man-disadvantages and made 44 saves in the Swiss effort, which came exactly four years after ex-Duck Martin Gerber led Switzerland to a 2-0 upset of Canada in Torino.

“I thought we played much better here than we did in that game,” said Swiss coach Ralph Krueger. “We showed great character to come back. Our forwards came back defensively and got inside their bigger forwards. And we had Hiller.”

The Swiss goalie made several ooh-and-aah saves, none bigger than a snatch of Ryan Getzlaf’s shot from inside the right circle in the third period.

He also denied Getzlaf’s backhand try in the first round of the shootout.

“If you asked Hillsie he’d say he knew exactly what I was going to do there,” Getzlaf said. “I went with more of a plan than just going to score a goal. How many times has he seen that move? Too much. I didn’t make the adjustment.”

In international play, each team gets three shootout chances in the first round, then can re-use those shooters in the second. Hiller stopped Crosby, Rick Nash and Getzlaf, while Martin Brodeur denied the Swiss at the other end.

Crosby wasn’t aware of the rule, so Canada’s Mike Babcock had to send him back out. Crosby fired the game-winner over Hiller’s right shoulder.

“I just tried to get him moving back into his net a little bit,” Crosby said.

“Crosby had the best shootout record (in the NHL), Nashie second and Getzlaf third,” Babcock said. “At the end I just said, well, he (Crosby) has had a look at him (Hiller) now, and why not go with the guy who scores every time?”

Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau gave Canada the 2-0 lead, and then Ivo Ruthemann rang a shot off the post past Brodeur. With 10 seconds left in the second period Patrick von Gunten sent in a shot that glanced off Marleau’s skate and in.

“I thought we were tight,” Babcock said. “We weren’t physical and didn’t shoot the puck enough. Did we feel the pressure? Oh, yeah. But pressure is something you have to drink in and embrace.

“I haven’t been in a championship in which you didn’t run into some adversity. I think this is good because it shows our team how hard it’s going to have to play to win.”

Asked if Canada played well enough for gold, Crosby said, “I wouldn’t say so, no, but the good news is that the gold medal game isn’t our next one.”

The Americans had an easier time against Norway, with a 16-2 edge in third period shots. It was a fairly uneventful night for the Ducks’ Bobby Ryan, until he caught an inadvertent stick in the mouth from Norway’s Tommy Jakobsen.

Brian Rafalski had two third-period goals for the Americans, who have given up two goals in two games.

“We were way better in terms of chemistry,” Ryan said. “But it is tougher when you’re playing 11 or 12 minutes instead of 18 or 19. You have to really focus and make the most of it.”

Coach Ron Wilson said he’s toying with the idea of moving Ryan to a line with center Patrick Kane (Chicago) and winger David Backes (St. Louis), while putting Jamie Langenbrunner on the first line with New Jersey teammate Zach Parise and Toronto’s Phil Kessel, who scored the first goal.

Norway coach Roy Johansen lost blowout games to both the U.S. and Canada, which play each other Sunday. “I think the U.S. team is probably faster,” Johansen said.

Although Canada and the U.S. have a good chance to get byes into the quarterfinals based on the standings regardless of Sunday's outcome, there will be no lack of juice in the arena.

“Mayhem,” Ryan described it.

Because three points are awarded for a regulation victory and two for a shootout victory, the U.S. has six and Canada five. The top four teams in the 12-team tournament get byes after the preliminary round ends Sunday.